1. Field of the Invention
In one aspect this invention relates to pneumatic shock absorbers. In yet a further aspect this invention relates to shock absorbers useful in sporting goods such as fire arms.
2. Prior Art
Shock absorption systems are an integral part of many firearms particularly semiautomatic fire arms. In general, the shock absorbers take the form of a device which redirects a portion of the gas formed upon firing a cartridge into a cylinder to dissipate a portion of the recoil.
Such devices provide some recoil relief and have gained wide acceptance. However, there is a sizeable range of possible charges used in shotguns and rifles with a corresponding difference in the possible recoil. Also, the amount of recoil which can be absorbed is limited since the amount of gas which can be diverted from the charge at the breech must be limited to avoid degrading performance. In conventional gas actuated systems, with larger charges there is an increase in the amount of recoil absorbed but it is not linear resulting in more punishing recoil at higher charge level.
There are also mechanical recoil absorption systems which use a friction system that can be mechanically adjusted for various charge levels. However these systems require disassembly and reassembly in order to be adjusted for various charge levels. Further mechanical devices tend to have a very limited number settings giving the devices limited utility.
It would be desirable to have a shock absorber or dampener which has a nonlinear response coefficient which would provide a mild absorption at low recoil levels and successively higher recoil absorption at higher levels without the need for adjustment. This could be manufactured so the effective absorption of an input force changes as a function of input force to provide a relatively constant output force.